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MEXICO CITY (AFP) – The Obama administration wants to crack down on the sale of assault weapons that are arming Mexican drug cartels, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in an interview with NBC television. Clinton late Wednesday called letting a previous US ban on the sale of assault weapons expire "a mistake." "I think these assault weapons, these military style weapons, don't belong on anyone's street," said Clinton who pushed for the ban as a New York senator. "During the time period from 1994 to 2004, when the ban was in effect, our police in America were able to...

Attorney General Eric Holder is using the drug violence in Mexico to "confuse and mislead" Americans in an attempt to reinstate the expired federal assault weapons ban, gun advocates say. Get ready for a gunfight. Holder revealed his intention to reinstate the ban last month while announcing more than 700 arrests in connection with a crackdown on Mexican drug cartels operating in the United States. "As President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to re-institute the ban on the sale of assault weapons,"...

Washington » Utah congressmen are taking issue with the Obama administration's call for a new assault-weapons ban, saying it interferes with the public's right to bear arms and won't reduce crime. The ban expired in 2004 after being in place for 10 years. In a news conference Thursday, Attorney General Eric Holder said: "As President [Barack] Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons." Holder believes the ban would help curb the flow of guns...

SPRINGFIELD -- Illinois gun owners could fall prey to a state bureaucracy that fails to process firearm owner's identification cards promptly. The state's tardiness leaves some otherwise law-abiding firearm owners vulnerable to criminal charges because FOID cards often expire while the state police are still processing renewals. Criminal charges can be filed against any resident who possesses a gun but does not have a valid FOID card. The Illinois State Police agency is required by law to process FOID applications within 30 days. But the process is taking up to 60 business days, according to agency spokesman Lt. Scott Compton....

CHICAGO (AP) - A federal judge in Chicago has ordered Governor Rod Blagojevich released on his own recognizance after the Democrat was hit with federal corruption charges. The governor was arrested at his home Tuesday on charges he conspired to sell or trade President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder. U.S. District Judge Nan Nolan said "Good afternoon, governor" in greeting Blagojevich at the afternoon bond hearing. The governor was wearing sweat pants, gym shoes and an athletic shirt. He was released on a signature bond that specifies that he'll forfeit $4,500 bond if he doesn't appear...

U.S. District Judge Nan Nolan said "Good afternoon, governor" in greeting Blagojevich at the afternoon bond hearing. The governor was wearing sweat pants, gym shoes and an athletic shirt. He was released on a signature bond that specifies that he'll forfeit $4,500 bond if he doesn't appear in court. Blagojevich also was ordered to relinquish his passport and his firearm owner's identification car.

You might call what's happened over the past two weeks a FOID-ian slip on the part of Gov. Rod Blagojevich. If there is one thing Blagojevich should know, it's not to mess with the gun guys - and gun ladies. During his 2002 campaign for governor, he was forced to moderate his position on gun control away from his efforts to ban handguns and raise the cost of a Firearms Owner Identification Card to one that more accurately reflected Illinois' diverse population. On the trail, he eschewed legislation he had once sponsored as a lawmaker to boost the cost of...

CHICAGO -- Gov. Rod Blagojevich called for a ban Tuesday on assault weapons in Illinois and said if lawmakers don't send him such a measure he will veto legislation lowering the minimum age to obtain a firearm owner's identification card without parental consent. The federal ban on manufacturing and importing at least 19 types of common military-style assault weapons expires Sept. 13. It isn't clear if Congress will extend the ban, so Blagojevich wants to deal with the matter on the state level. "No one needs assault weapons for hunting," the governor said. "No one should need an assault weapon...

Differing bills must be resolved SPRINGFIELD -- Pitting Chicago lawmakers against gun-rights advocates, the House and Senate voted separately Thursday to lower from 21 to 18 the age at which a person may apply for a firearm owner's identification card without a parent's permission. "If you can go off and fight a war without mom and dad's permission, you certainly ought to be able to go out and shoot a few ducks without mom or dad's permission," said Rep. Ron Stephens (R-Mulberry Grove), a veteran. The firearm owner's card debate came as lawmakers passed legislation ranging from ensuring that George...

SPRINGFIELD -- The Illinois Senate Friday approved legislation to allow retired police officers and former military police officers to carry concealed weapons, the latest example of a growing mood against gun control in the legislature despite the Democratic takeover of both chambers.

I am Vice President of a Northern Illinois water fowlers association. I am appalled that a lawful hardworking individual is being targeted for just protecting his family, his home and everything he holds dear in his life like his child. [See related articles and letters on Hale DeMar and the Wilmette gun ban, below]. Gun laws today basically target and disarm lawful, hardworking folks who in today's times know how criminal the real world is outside. All these lawful folks are doing is just trying to keep the criminal activity outside of their home, not permit it to have a...

German Gun Control and the Illinois FOIDby Raymond BenwoodApril 29, 2002 “Laws that forbid the carrying of arms, disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.” --Cesare Beccaria, quoted by Thomas Jefferson In 1968 a new gun control act was passed in response to race riots in some of our major cities. From this Act a whole new generation of gun control laws were created in the states. In 1992 Jews for Preservation of Firearm Ownership Inc, published Gun Control: Gateway to Tyranny, which contains the actual text of pre Nazi, and Nazi gun control laws....